Maddie knows that Claire hates her, though she doesn’t understand why. However, she is completely unprepared for the vicious nature of Claire’s attacks. Her nastiness is escalating rapidly and her next trick is to plant an open box of condoms in Maddie’s purse. Predictably, Polly doesn’t believe Madison, but Craig does.

Craig smiled at Patti. “I believe we might have room for you if we rearrange things in the luggage area. Interested?”

“Oh, yes, sir!” She grabbed her bag and followed him to the other station wagon.

Daniel and Richard had already started repacking the back so there was more room behind the seats. Some of the bigger items went into Leslie and Caroline’s car.

“You’re welcome to join me,” Clayton offered since it was his turn in the rear.

“I think that Brad should join you back there,” Craig said. “Ladies should sit on actual seats.”

“I’ll sit in the middle with Richard and Daniel,” Patti decided. “Sorry, Clayton. You’re cute and all, but I don’t want to sit back there with the suitcases.”

They rode the rest of the day in happy companionship. Polly and the girls would hardly speak to Craig and his group. She was furious with him for taking Maddie’s side and he couldn’t understand why she took up for Claire.

“I’m really sorry I got you in trouble with Mrs. C,” Maddie told Craig.

“Nonsense. She’ll calm down once we’re there. Don’t let it worry you, Maddie. I know that box of condoms wasn’t yours. The way you looked—like it was gonna bite you.” He laughed quietly. “I knew right then you weren’t expecting them. Anyone in her right mind would do her best to hide them, not throw them at me.”

“Thanks, Craig. That means a lot to me.” She hugged him.

He patted her on the hair. “Anytime.”

Clayton finally convinced Patti to ride in the back with him. He told her all about a new game he’d started playing, Dungeons and Dragons. They talked about the different types of characters and soon all of them were discussing the fantasy role playing game. Even Craig thought it sounded fun.

“We can get together and try a game when we get home. I have to have my stuff to run a scenario,” Clayton stated. “I wish I could do one now, cause it would be a great way to pass the time.”

“We can talk about it and imagine it,” Patti suggested. “I want to be an elf mage. My name is Anduval. Maddie, what about you?”

“I want to be a human druid named Storm.”

“Like in X-Men?” Brad asked, excited.

“Yeah. I always liked her.”

“Okay,” Clayton agreed. “Brad?”

“I’d love Batman, but I’m guessing that’s not appropriate. How about a barbarian warrior named—Ax Man?”

“I’m an elf bard named—Carlos Page,” Daniel declared.

“Then I want to be a dwarf rogue named Robert Mercury,” Richard stated.

“I’ll go with a monk named Bruce Lee,” Craig said, making Bruce Lee’s distinctive, high pitched screech.

© 2015 Dellani Oakes

To Buy Dellani’s Books

Their first night on the road, they youth group stays over at a church in Denver. Maddie wakes during the night to find Claire and her friends sneaking back in from being out drinking and smoking.

Breakfast was served as a buffet. There was plenty of fruit, donuts of every variety, little boxes of cereal and a milk dispenser. This was extremely popular. The milk not only came out foamy, it was so cold that it had ice chips in it. The boys were especially taken with it and drank glass after glass.

They did a final check of their possessions and loaded into the cars. Maddie opened her bag to get out her sunglasses and found a box at the bottom. She knew it wasn’t hers, so she decided to look at it. The boys got in the car and Craig opened his door as she pulled it out. Screeching, she threw it across the front seat. It landed right where Craig was about to sit down. He stared at the box.

“Um, Madison, you want to explain that?”

“I found it in my purse! It’s not mine, I swear! I wouldn’t, I haven’t—” Instead of crying, she grabbed the box and got out of the car. She marched over to the girls’ car and banged on the door. Polly opened her window.

“Someone left these in my bag,” Madison glared right at Claire. “They aren’t mine, but I suspect that the real owner is going to need them again.” She threw them across the seat. The open box landed in Claire’s lap, scattering foil packets all over her lap, the seat and the floor.

“Stay away from me,” Madison pointed at Claire. “You don’t want to start something you can’t finish. Because I assure you, I can.” She whirled around, storming back to the boys’ car.

Polly rushed after her. She pulled the door open, reaching in for Maddie. “That was uncalled for, young lady! How dare you make such accusations.”

“Do you believe Claire, Mom?” Daniel said, getting out of the car. “Cause she’s a lying hag. Maddie would never do anything like that unless she was provoked. You should know that. Claire’s mad because I won’t have sex with her. She thinks I like Maddie, so she’s doing all this to make her look bad.” He said it with such a straight face, Madison knew it was true.

Polly gaped. “You’re making that up! To protect Maddie.”

Daniel shrugged. “Believe what you want. I know what I know. Ask any of the guys in this car, they’ll tell you about Claire. Oh, and precious Beverly too. Her, I didn’t say no to.”

Polly blanched, fanning herself with her hand. “You’re saying—?”

“Yes, Mom. I’m saying Beverly and I had intercourse. Several times. On more than one occasion.”

“You’ll say anything to protect her, won’t you?” She pointed at Maddie.

“If you mean I’ll tell the truth, yes. I won’t lie for anyone.” He turned to his father. “I told you not to let that heathen bitch come along.” He shrugged. “But what do I know? I’m just a kid.” He got in the car, shutting the door practically in his mother’s face.

“If you’re done here,” Craig said, tight lipped. “We should get on the road.”

“Aren’t you going to do anything about this?” Daniel demanded.

“Yes.” Craig took the box of condoms and went to the other car. He handed them to Claire with a tight smile. “I believe these are yours. If you and your friends sneak out again for a smoke or whatever, I will catch you and I’ll take great pleasure in sending you home. Clear?”

They nodded.

© 2015 Dellani Oakes

To Buy Dellani’s Books

After a game of Monopoly, which they capitulated, Maddie and Patti play charades with some of the others. Overly excited, they mess up playing, but everyone has a good time anyway. Once they are ready for bed, Maddie gets ready for bed.

Maddie actually fell asleep. She felt safe with Patti on one side and Caroline on the other. Her dreams were strange, full of the boys running through a field of daisies, leaping and capering like a bunch of idiots. It took her a little while to realize that none of them were wearing clothing. Embarrassed, Maddie woke herself up. She stared at the ceiling, wondering where those thoughts had come from. She wasn’t interested in any of the boys like that.

Naked? They had to be naked!

She mentally castigated herself. She had never seen any of them without their clothing, but she had seen a few naked men. She had brothers and they weren’t always picky about closing doors, dropping towels or jeans in her presence. She knew what men had in their pants and, though it didn’t bother her per se, looking at her friends like that, made her uncomfortable. It didn’t occur to her right away, they probably looked at her like that, and enjoyed it. But that was guys. All men were pervs—at least that’s what every woman she knew said.

Trying to find a more comfortable position, she rolled on her side. It was then that she noticed that the other girls were gone. Their sleeping bags were laid out, stuffed with their pillows, but they were gone.

Snuck out after curfew? Are they nuts?

What could they be doing at this time of night—more importantly, who were they doing it with? Surely not the guys from their group. They knew better. Besides, they knew what Craig would do if he even suspected they’d been up to no good.

Would they go out with some of the Denver boys? She didn’t even want to know. If Claire found out that Maddie knew, she’d make her life a living hell. It was unpleasant now, but Claire could ratchet it up a few notches. Maddie preferred not to put herself through that.

The door creaked. She pretended she was asleep as the girls crept back in. Maddie didn’t want to sniff too loudly, but she was pretty sure she smelled alcohol and cigarette smoke. Or was that strictly cigarettes? It smelled more pungent. She’d never smelled marijuana, but suspected that was the odor she detected. Soon, the other girls were asleep. Maddie did her best to get more sleep, but her mind was a turmoil of all the lies she would have to tell to keep them from finding out what she knew.

What if they find out? What will they do to me then? Craig and Polly probably won’t believe me. Hell, I wouldn’t even believe me if I hadn’t seen it. Claire is Miss Perfect. She and her friends are beauty queens. You can bet if they lied about me, everyone would believe it.

Eventually, Maddie fell asleep once more and didn’t wake until Patti nudged her.

“Time to get up, sleepy.”

“Yeah. One minute.” She stayed in her sleeping bag.

Patti tugged at the zipper, yanking it down.

“Okay, I’m up!”

© 2015 Dellani Oakes

To Buy Dellani’s Books

After a delicious meal prepared by the church ladies, the teens settle in to play games and have fun before turning in for the night.

Once dinner was over, the students from Reverend Davis’ youth group came in with board games of every possible description. They divided into groups to play Scrabble, Monopoly and Game of Life. Claire and her buddies chose Mystery Date. To be specific, Claire chose it and they went along.

Madison and Patti got into a cut throat game of Monopoly with Brad and a boy from the Denver group. Maddie wasn’t sure what his name was. Everyone called him Beef. He was a big boy, not so much fat as solidly built. He was friendly, unless they landed on his property, then he was ruthless. He and Brad owned virtually all the property and had hotels on everything. They argued about the rules constantly, refusing to listen to Patti read them aloud. They were both wrong, but didn’t want to admit it. Eventually, the girls split their property and money evenly between the boys and left to find something else.

Some of the Denver group were playing charades. Patti urged Maddie to join. They each went on a different team and sat down on the floor. Maddie chose and opened the folded paper holding her challenge. Trying to keep her face immobile, she read and re-read the words.

“Maddie, why don’t you go first this time?” Dora, one of the Denver girls said.

“Okay. Give me a moment. I have to think how to do this.” She got up, dusted off her jeans and took a neutral pose. After a moment, she held up five fingers.

“Five words,” her team guessed.

She gestured to show that it was a song and continued. It took a moment for them to guess that her first word was War. Second word is. Third was a little more difficult, but one of here teammates yelled “Mean. Tough. Strict!”

“War is strict?” the same boy said.

Another short word—as. For her final hint, she gestured to encompass the building. The first guess was church. The next, building. Shaking her head, Maddie knelt as if praying.

“God,” the same boy yelled. “No—Jesus! War is strict as Jesus!”

“What’s that from?” Dora asked.

“It’s from Pippin,” someone else said. “Lyrics from the song Glory.”

“I got to see that when I was in New York,” another girl said. “Such a good show.”

The discussion moved away from charades to the musical, then back to the game. It was now Patti’s turn. Maddie spoiled it by yelling out the answer, so they gave Patti another chance. Maddie barely managed to keep her mouth shut, but she put both hands over her face so she couldn’t blurt. Later, she apologized.

“It’s okay. I was doing the same thing with yours. Next time, let’s try to get on the same team.”

The Denver youth headed home and the Nebraska contingent got ready for bed. Patti and Maddie bedded down as far from the others as they could, making sure they were between the Polly and Caroline. They didn’t trust Claire and her friends one bit. The group shared a short prayer and the lights were out. There were streetlights outside that cast an eerie, distorted glow in the room. At least they’d be able to see if they had to get up during the night.

© 2015 Dellani Oakes

To Buy Dellani’s Books

The group from Nebraska arrives for their overnight stop in Denver. They meet Reverend Davis and find their spots for the night.

“Boys in here,” Reverend Davis pointed to one room. “Girls are down the hall. Restrooms are in the middle.”

Maddie groaned inwardly. She’d forgotten she would have to sleep with the girls. Her stomach tied in knots, wondering what they would do to her in her sleep. They got their sleeping bags from the cars, along with their overnight things. They got settled in their rooms, then followed their noses back to the fellowship hall for dinner.

The ladies had fixed a meal of spaghetti, with huge meatballs, fresh garlic bread, salad and thickly iced chocolate layer cake for dessert. Maddie served her food and sat at a table. Patti came and sat with her. The other girls glared in their direction, taking the table furthest from the two girls.

“I’m sorry I didn’t speak up,” Patti said quietly. “Claire told me she’d say I’d given Clayton a blow job if I said anything. I didn’t!” she said quickly. “I’d never—ever do something like that.”

“What’s Claire’s problem anyway? What did I ever do to her?”

Maddie looked at Claire, who was pointedly ignoring her. She was tall, willowy, clear complected with long, curly platinum blonde hair that fell to her waist. In comparison, Maddie was frumpy, short and dumpy. Her dark blonde hair was in a shoulder length cut and hung straight as a board. Her complexion didn’t tan like Claire’s. Until recently, she’d worn braces and been flat chested. She got the braces off six months earlier and her boobs seemed to take that as the signal to grow. She went from 32A to 36C nearly overnight.

Patti sniffed, shrugging one shoulder. “Look at her,” she said, tossing long auburn hair over her shoulder.

“I did. She’s perfect.”

Her friend giggled. “Now look at the guys. No direct eye contact. They’re like deer, you’ll scare them off.”

Maddie let her gaze travel to where the boys were sitting. None of them were looking at Claire and the others. They stared openly at Maddie and Patti. Patti caught Brad’s eye and smiled, tossing her hair once more. He nearly poked himself in the eye with his fork. Giggling, she went back to her food.

“That’s why,” Patti whispered. “Jealous as hell. You know how bad she wants those guys to drool over her the way they are over you?”

“Over us, you mean. I see Clayton. He needs a bib.”

“He’s kinda cute, for sure.”

“Beverly likes him.”

“Don’t I know it. She talks about nothing else. She tries to make it sound like they’re an item.”

“Not according to him. And you know how guys talk. Is he more likely to deny he’s slept with her or more likely to brag that he has?”

“Good point.”

© 2015 Dellani Oakes

To Buy Dellani’s Books

Though she gets along well with the boys, Madison doesn’t get along with the girls. One in particular, Claire, seems bent on giving her grief. She purposely trash talks Maddie in the rest stop bathroom, making her sound like a slut. Madison is horrified and even more humiliated when Miss Polly won’t believe her. Fortunately, Craig and the boys, do.

“You don’t wanna be like them,” Daniel said calmly. “Cause they’re bitches.”

“Language,” Polly reprimanded.

“Sorry, Mom. You know it’s true. You can’t stand there and tell me it was an accident.”

“I’ll talk to them,” Polly promised. “We have to get back on the road. Are you okay, Maddie?” She didn’t sound particularly concerned. Instead, she sounded put out.

Madison nodded and shrugged. She wasn’t all right, but what could she say? She was hundreds of miles from home with no way back. She had to make the most of it. It was going to be a long ten days.

The boys loaded back in the car as the station wagon full of girls pulled away from the curb. Leslie and Caroline had their own car with no kids in it. Maddie envied them their peace and quiet. She would have liked to ride with them, but Caroline was such a nut job, she didn’t think she could handle being called Barbara the whole way to New Mexico.

Daniel, who was sitting directly behind her, put a hand on Maddie’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “Don’t sweat it, Mads. They’re just jealous.”

“Right, I’m so rich and wonderful,” she groused.

“No, cause you’re so much hotter than they are,” he said softly. “And because we’d never tolerate having any of them in the cool car.” He chuckled, patting her back.

“Thanks, guys. You’re the best.”

They put the subject aside and talked about other things. A loud argument popped up between Clayton and Richard about the lyrics to Purple Haze.

“Dad, would you please set them straight? You saw him in concert.”

“The real line is ‘Cuse me while I kiss the sky,” Craig said slowly, enunciating clearly. “But he did a joke version of the song, to tease the people who misinterpreted the lyrics, ‘Cuse me while I kiss this guy. In effect, you’re both right.”

“But in the spirit of the original, written down lyrics?” Daniel persisted.

“In deference to the original lyrics, it’s kiss the sky.“

“Told you!” Clayton said, punching the roof.

The sun was low in the sky as they pulled into the parking lot of the church where they would be spending the night. The minister met them at the door to the fellowship hall.

“We’ve got everything set up. Dinner is almost ready. The ladies have been cooking all day. Come on in. I’m Reverend Davis. We’ll get bags and things in a minute,” he said as they hesitated. “I’ve got lots of strong backs inside.”

The fellowship hall was nearly twice the size of the one at their church back home. Maddie was impressed at the size of the church too. When Reverend Davis told them the number of people in the congregation, she was stunned. That was over twice as many as attended their church. Then again, this was Denver. There were bound to be more Presbyterians here than in their small Nebraska town. The fellowship hall connected to the Sunday school classrooms. It was here that they would be staying.

© 2015 Dellani Oakes

To Buy Dellani’s Books

The boys can’t resist getting in one more comment about Maddie’s chest. All of them agree that she’s very well built. Using poultry euphemisms, they compliment her upper dimensions and tell her to take the comment in the spirit in which it’s intended—Lust.

Laughing, Maddie kicked up her heels, tipping backward against the door. She laughed so hard, she could hardly breathe. The car full of girls pulled up next to them and she excused herself. Badly needing a restroom, she trotted ahead of the girls, disappearing into a stall before they got to the door. She heard them come in, talking loudly and laughing in that ugly tone that mean girls had when they talked about someone they didn’t like.

“I heard she slept with half the football team,” Claire Coventry said with a nasty sniff.

The door next to Madison thumped and she knew Claire was beside her. She stayed quiet, wondering who they were discussing.

“Just the football team? I heard she did at least half the baseball team too,” Claire’s best friend, Jane Porter said from the stall on the other side.

“Oh, come on, girls, you’re making that up,” Patti, the only nice one in the bunch, said.

“You don’t know her as well as we do. We’ve been in school with her since second grade. You just moved here last year, Patti. You don’t know,” Claire replied.

“I still don’t believe it. You just don’t like her.”

“Have you seen the way she looks at Clayton? Positively scandalous,” Beverly Quinn complained. “She practically sticks her boobs in his face when they talk. All the boys are all over her because of her big breasts.”

“Everyone knows that girls built like that are easy,” Denise Carballo added.

It had taken a moment to realize, but it finally dawned on Madison that they were talking about her! This reputation bashing was most likely for her benefit. They had to know she was in the restroom with them, yet they talked about her as if she weren’t there.

The other stall doors banged shut. Maddie rushed out, rinsing her fingers before running blindly for the car. The only person in the car was Clayton. He sat with the back door open, a soda in his hand. She flung herself on the front seat, weeping bitterly.

“Maddie?” he hopped up, dropping his soda can on the ground. “Madison?” He pulled the door open, crouching by the car.

He tried to get a straight story from her, but Maddie couldn’t stop crying. The other boys came up with Craig and Polly. Maddie wept hysterically. The other girls lingered near the bathroom, watching the drama unfold from a distance. Claire smiled at Madison’s anguish.

It took a long time to calm Maddie enough for her to speak. Everything sounded like unfounded accusation. She didn’t think any of the adults believed her. The girls strolled over to the car, getting in unconcernedly, glaring at Maddie as they closed their doors. Only Patti looked distressed, but she said nothing.

“I shouldn’t have come,” Maddie gulped. “It was stupid. So stupid to even think they would let me be one of them.”

© 2015 Dellani Oakes

To Buy Dellani’s Books